What do You Hate about Movies?

My Warren | 01/01/2002 | Mad Bunny

[gcruse]

What do you see, over and over again, that pisses you off?

Well, how about vanities that aren't
posted in Questions/Opinions?

[MistrX]

I go to movies very infrequently, but I am always irritated by the commercials, the endless trailers and the ear-splitting volume. I always bring earplugs.

[RedBloodedAmerican]

I havent been to a movie theater since around 1990. And that was once since the late 80's. I am not missing anything, I don't think. Save money for other things like a good meal and see the movies on video later :)

[Restorer]

for instance, it takes less than a minute for the average 12-year old to crack into computers programmed by adults with Masters Degrees in Software Engineering from MIT

How about the password system that allows you 400 tries to guess the secret code? I don't have the world's tightest security at work but if I misenter the password three times, it locks me out and the network administrator has to override the system.

[NYCVirago]

I'll add a few pet peeves:

Actresses in fat suits: Two recent examples are Julia Roberts in "America's Sweethearts" and Gwyneth Paltrow in "Shallow Hall." What is the point of it, exactly? And another thing about "Shallow Hal" -- how believable is the premise that Jack Black, who plays the lead character, is only interested in extremely beautiful women? He's not exactly Tom Cruise in the looks department; in real life, somebody who looked like Jack Black would have his unrealistic goals for dates shattered in about two minutes.

Older man, younger woman scenario: It's one thing when you do a movie based on that premise, but for too many films, it's considered so perfectly normal for Jack Nicholson to be dating Helen Hunt, and Richard Gere to be involved in Winona Ryder, that it's not even mentioned as an issue in the film. This film conceit may reflect reality in Hollywood, but not in the rest of America.

[birbear]

I must be one of the weird ones here -- I actually enjoy the theater experience.

I won't go to a movie at night and I with some noteable exceptions, I'll only see a movie after it's been playing for a few weeks. (Star Wars and Star Trek movies I'll be there on opening day).

The wife and I saw Oceans 11 the other day. Is it at all plausible-- of course not, but then I don't look for reality in my entertainment, I go for the pure escapisim that a theater and a movie can bring. For 2 hours I'm an anonymous soul in a dark theater with the only worries being will my bladder be able to hold the 64 ounces of soda for 2 hours.

To those that mention the language in movies nowadays...I would tend to agree. That's why I'm always impressed when a movie can be entertaining without being vulgar. What really impresed me was Mission Impossible -- watch it closely -- no profanity in it. And I credit Tom Cruise as the executive producer for doing that. Star Wars, again, no profanity.

Ocean's 11 -- very limited in its profanity, violence, and gratuitious sex. It will never win any awards, but it was hihgly entertaining.

I am looking forward to Spider Man

[Restorer]

My personal biggest peeve is the way Good is portrayed as helpless against Evil. They often do a good job of portraying Evil, but are almost laughably incompetent at portraying characters that are undeniably Good. Probably because they don't really believe in the concept of Good themselves.

A sub-peeve is that Evil is portrayed as far more interesting, exciting and sexy than Good.

One recent trip illustrated my point perfectly. One of the movies previewed was Queen of the Damned, which is another in the series of Anne Rice "aren't vampires sexy" movies. Absolutely revolting. I doubt there are any Good characters in this movie at all, except possibly as victims.

Amazingly enough, the move I actually went to see, Lord of the Rings, was the exact opposite. It had indubitably Good characters, even though they were not goody-two-shoes or perfect, and could be tempted by Evil, they resisted, fighting their own weakness as well as the Enemy. I could actually identify with and cheer for these heroes. An almost unique experience in recent movie history!

[Sueann]

2 things

1 - how they always seem to find a way to bash the conservative viewpoint and insinuate it is something evil.

2 - sassy children - who are allowed to be sassy by stupid acting adults.

[AmishDude]

Yes! Gorgeous Female Scientists. I have never met one. Never. She is always a legend in her field but is (or at least looks) 23, blonde and perfectly fit. (Of course, maybe she's a bit more than perfect if silicone is to be included.)

[exmoor]

I dont know how you got the message 3 times. I also auditioned for Quick Draw McGraw.

[Emmanual_Goldstein16]

Kinda like on Alien when the alien is about to punch a hole in someone, the close up of the alien reveals it's mouth with crap pouring off all over the place? Yeah, I know what you mean. I remember a really nasty scene. On Starship Troopers, that big brain like thing had a really slimy mouth which I thought totally nasty. I couldn't even look at the thing without gagging.

[Psycho_Bunny]

Waaa.

[Long Cut]

Good point. Movie characters just don't LIVE like regular people. Sometimes, it's so bad it distracts from the story. Like when some burned-out private eye, who owes money to everyone, lives in a great pad and drives a sweet car, and uses a custom pistol even though he lives in an anti-gun town.

[DoughtyOne]

You would ask this the day after my wife and I walked out of "It's Not Another Teen Move."  We were about fifteen minutes in when we both felt so defiled by the movie that we couldn't in good concience stick around any longer.  By this time the following scenes had already transpired:

1. Teenage girl inserts an elaborate sexual toy inside herself, then experiences multiple orgasms as her brother, mom, dad, grandmother, priest and friends enter the room to wish her a happy birthday.
2. Three peeping toms in an air duct fall on the object of their voyerism who just happens to be on the toilet.  After witnessing her flatulance and the sounds of her defication, they fall on her and together they go through several floors winding up in a classroom where the still in tact toilet shoots defication over an entire classroom.
3. Prolonged frontal nudity of a well endowed female, as well as full nudity of her from behind.
4. The dismemberment of a football player whose body is split in half just below the rib cage.  His upper body with pulsating parts just a few feet away from his lower body with grusome parts hanging out of it as well.

Believe it or not, the dialogue was equally as base and I must say, evil.

I'm no prude.  I've seen my share of rank movies.  This was by far the worst I've seen.  Although this movie has an "R" rating, which I found out after we left the theatre, I know young kids are going to see it.  There were nine to twelve year old kids in the theatre we saw it in.  One underage kid outside the theater asked an adult to buy his ticket for him.

What we are presenting to our youth is very distrubing to me.  I don't expect others to adopt my morals, so I don't expect there not to be objectionable material in these types of shows.  But the movie producers are now cramming in every bit of trash they can, even to the point of beastiality.  This is beneath the ideals that a society such as our own should pass on to their children.  It is a shame on our society that we do not clean this up.

That's a start...

[CIB-173RDABN]

How about the password system that allows you 400 tries to guess the secret code? I don't have the world's tightest security at work but if I misenter the password three times, it locks me out and the network administrator has to override the system.

--------

I do remote programming all day long. Before I even get to where I need a password, I need to know the correct phone number, what the baud rate, and have the correct version of programming software.

If all that is correct, I then enter the password. Even then, I discover someone has changed it since the last time I called in.

Yet a nerd can use any computer and access any othe computer and in a matter of minutes get access to top secret information. There are days I would like to hire these kids, it would be easier than trying to track down what the new password is.

My favorite is in INDEPENDENCE DAY when they were able to upload a virus into an Alien computer network. Yeah, I really believed that.

[CIB-173RDABN]

How about the password system that allows you 400 tries to guess the secret code? I don't have the world's tightest security at work but if I misenter the password three times, it locks me out and the network administrator has to override the system.

--------

I do remote programming all day long. Before I even get to where I need a password, I need to know the correct phone number, what the baud rate, and have the correct version of programming software.

If all that is correct, I then enter the password. Even then, I discover someone has changed it since the last time I called in.

Yet a nerd can use any computer and access any othe computer and in a matter of minutes get access to top secret information. There are days I would like to hire these kids, it would be easier than trying to track down what the new password is.

My favorite is in INDEPENDENCE DAY when they were able to upload a virus into an Alien computer network. Yeah, I really believed that.

[Exigence]

How about the password system that allows you 400 tries to guess the secret code?

Well, maybe the Hollywood-types are dumb enough that they would allow 400 tries. It would be "fairer," wouldn't it? And they're big on fairness -- just ask Alec Baldwin. *cheeky g*

[rdww]

"3) The "Magic Negro" (e.g. Will Smith in The Legend of Bagger Vance, Cuba Gooding Jr. in What Dreams May Come, and Whoopi Goldberg in about half of the roles she ever played, especially Guinan in Star Trek.)"

And Laurence Fishburne in The Matrix, and whats-his-name in Unbreakable, and etc. Often he wears a long, black coat too.

[Emmanual_Goldstein16]

Amazingly enough, the move I actually went to see, Lord of the Rings, was the exact opposite. It had indubitably Good characters, even though they were not goody-two-shoes or perfect, and could be tempted by Evil, they resisted, fighting their own weakness as well as the Enemy. I could actually identify with and cheer for these heroes. An almost unique experience in recent movie history!

Yes, I know exactly what you mean. That is a remarkable thing about that movie. It portrayed the good guys as good, but they all had weaknesses which they fight to overcome and that is reality. I think the LOTR is probably the best movie I have ever seen. It truly is unique compared the the outhouse scrapings Hollywood has to offer now.

[Jhensy]

?&I¼tion movies, the inevitable long shootout/stalking scene inside a dark factory or warehouse, dripping water or steam optional. I believe "Terminator" started this.

2. Fast, MTV editing, with the shaking camera to make you think something thrilling is going on, when there really isn't. See the incredibly lame Lambourghini car chase scene in "The Rock", possibly the worst movie ever made.

3. That slow motion shot of guys walking towards you as something blows up in the background. Any John Woo movie will do.

4. The ultimate hypocrisy of leftist Hollywood being by far the world's biggest promoter and exploiter of firearms. I'm pro Second Amendment, but I've never fired a gun in my life. Yet Alec Baldwin, Richard Gere, etc. have pointed guns at me throughout my life. Next time you're at your local video store, look at how many tape boxes have guns or rifles featured.